Oct 27, 2023
Conservatives are already turning against the latest Republican House Speaker, even with his extreme election denying Donald Trump ties, due to his past comments on racism and racial injustice. Francesca Fiorentini and Brett Erlich break it down on The Damage Report.
- 7 minutes
House Republicans have had a new speaker,
Mike Johnson, for
a total of 48 hours, and they
are already beginning to turn on him for
a pretty disgusting reason
that we're gonna get into.
Specifically for his thoughts on
the George Floyd murder in 2020.
[00:00:18]
Matt Walsh kicked it off.
He tweeted out a clip of Mike Johnson at
the time who was asked about the police
killing of George Floyd,
to which he had a pretty human response.
Here's what he said.
>> Speaker 2: What did you feel
when you watched the video of
[00:00:35]
George Floyd being killed?
>> Speaker 2: I was outraged.
I don't think anyone
can view the video and
objectively come to any other conclusion
but that it was an act of murder.
And I felt that initially,
as everyone did, it's so disturbing.
[00:00:52]
And the underlying issues beneath that
are something that the country is
now struggling with, and I think it's
something we have to look at very
soberly and with a lot of empathy,
and I'm glad to see that's happening.
>> Speaker 1: Wow, ew,
empathy, sobriety, disgusting.
[00:01:12]
Okay, so, yeah, that's actually
an incredibly honest and real and
I think everyone felt that way answer
after the murder of George Floyd,
part of this might be because
Mike Johnson has an adopted Black son.
He has two biological children
as well who are white and
[00:01:29]
he actually spoke a little bit more
about the differences between his kids.
>> Speaker 2: I've thought often through
all these ordeals over the last couple of
weeks about the difference in
the experiences between my two 14 year old
sons, Michael being a Black American and
Jack being white Caucasian.
[00:01:46]
They have different challenges.
My son Jack has an easier path,
he just does.
The interesting thing about both of these
kids, Michael and Jack, is they're both
handsome, articulate, really talented
kids, gifted by God to do lots of things.
[00:02:01]
But the reality is, and no one can tell
me otherwise, my son Michael had a harder
time than my son Jack is going to have
simply because of the color of his skin.
And that's a reality.
It's an uncomfortable,
painful one to acknowledge, but
people have to recognize that's a fact.
>> Speaker 1: All right, we need to
stop this before I start to kind of like
[00:02:20]
Michael Johnson for,
recognizing structural racism,
seeing it in front of him, having some
sort of empathy for his son, who,
yes, will face different
adversity than his white son.
But of course, Matt Walsh is
sounding the alarm on this, and
[00:02:36]
he tweeted that clip out, saying,
here's the new speaker saying George Floyd
was murdered and we needed systemic
changes to fix the racism in our country.
Struggling to see why we had to
kick out the last guy for this guy,
it's the exact same guy, pretty much.
[00:02:51]
And then Laura Loomer, who I'm
convinced is just an Instagram filter,
tweeted, Magic Mike's loves drug addict,
George Floyd.
My God, how people still say this,
just, you're such a ghoul.
[00:03:11]
You're such a ghoul.
Turns out there's no difference
between Magic Mike and Big Mike.
Is he an undercover?
So, wait, Big Mike, who's Big Mike?
>> Speaker 3: All I think of
is Big Mike is Blindside.
>> Speaker 3: Yeah.
[00:03:27]
>> Mike McCarthy.
>> Speaker 1: Is that what he's saying?
Because he-
>> No Mike McCarthy said I went to sports,
I went too deep into sports.
I don't know, Big Mike?
>> Speaker 1: Anyway,
is he an undercover Democrat?
What type of MAGA Republican
says something like that?
George Floyd was a drug addict and
a criminal, yet
the new speaker of the House said is
his heart broke for George Floyd.
[00:03:44]
I'm really MAGA.
You know who my heart breaks for?
Derek Chauvin.
[SOUND] Side with the murderer.
And then, of course,
you've got other folks saying,
Pedro Gonzalez saying, sure,
the new GOP House Speaker has completely
[00:04:03]
internalized left wing racial libel
about white supremacy and privilege.
He also supports foreign aid, but okay,
but he supports Trump, so it's fine.
It's a win.
So people are basically like, McCarthy
was better or McCarthy was the same.
[00:04:19]
What did McCarthy actually say
about George Floyd at the time?
Let's take a look.
This was his tweet.
George Floyd should still be alive today.
We can honor his memory by
healing our broken communities,
by mending racial divides,
and by rebuilding America into a more
perfect union that we know it should be.
[00:04:35]
Ripping a city and
a country apart only deepens the wound.
You stupid, uppity activists, go back
home, go back inside, we've got this.
And why I got this, we will do nothing.
So I just think this is so interesting,
Bret, and I'm sure that Mike Johnson
[00:04:53]
isn't gonna come out and
sort of stand by his old comments.
He's trying to play this role,
I don't think it's gonna stick.
I don't think people really care,
especially after
the amount of dysfunction.
But the reach on this is so gross.
[00:05:09]
>> Speaker 3: I don't think anyone's
gonna address it that isn't in,
the Laura Loomer slime pit.
>> Speaker 3: Yeah.
>> They're just gonna
cruise right past it.
I mean, this is a Matt Walsh,
like, mic check, so to speak,
where he's just like, can anyone hear me?
And he's seeing if this works.
[00:05:25]
He knows the people in his basement can
hear him, but he's trying to get this.
But in choosing Mike Johnson for
the speakership,
they really have figured out
the perfect thing to do.
[00:05:41]
Just because, I mean the central casting
aspect of this dude, every time I look
at him, I just think, this is exactly who
the Republicans kind of always have been.
A smooth talking God loves you,
and I'm gonna try to champion you.
[00:05:57]
The kind of things that
Ted Cruz tries to do, but
always comes off as
like a real slime ball.
This guy genuinely just kind
of is able to glide around and
communicate to people-
>> Yeah.
>> And they see it.
And the flip side of the coin of what he's
talking about with his own son is like,
[00:06:18]
this guy is the apex of the other side,
with his floopy hairdo and
his glasses, he is exactly that
smoke filled room, everybody.
He doesn't really talk about his feelings,
but then he goes and
does probably something wildly
depraved behind the scenes.
[00:06:35]
That's just the vibe I get off this dude.
>> Speaker 1: I'm getting big weird,
congressional orgy that we can't
speak about vibes from him.
[LAUGH]
>> Speaker 3: He's the guy that invited
Matt Gates.
>> Speaker 1: He invited Matt Gates.
He invited what's his name that we
don't talk about anymore because-
[00:06:52]
>> Madison Cawthorne.
>> Speaker 1: Yes.
>> Speaker 3: For him,
I just hear him say,
it's going to be a lot more difficult for
my Black child than it is for
my white child in my own house
because I am wildly racist.
>> Speaker 1: [LAUGH] Yeah.
God, I feel like this won't be
the last we'll hear of his son.
[00:07:11]
I mean, that's the thing.
If he had any, I hope he leaves his Black
son out of this, but I sort of feel like
he will probably use him as a crutch and
as a talking point going forward.
But TBD.
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The Damage Report: October 27, 2023
Hosts: Francesca Fiorentini Guests: Brett Erlich